Solar System Log by Andrew Wilson, published 1987 by Jane's Publishing Co. Ltd.

Brilliantly overcoming a near-fatal helium leak in a pressure regulator, engineers from JPL and Hughes Aircraft Company (the prime contractor for the spacecraft) managed to safely deposit Surveyor 5 on the surface of the Moon in the southeastern region of Mare Tranquillitatis at 1° 25' north latitude and 23° 11' east longitude at 00:46:42 UT on 11 September 1967.

The malfunction put the lander about 29 kilometers away from its target in an angular incline within the slope of the rimless crater. Surveyor 5 was, however, the most successful of the series.

The lander returned 18,006 photos before lunar night descended on 24 September. Controllers successfully commanded the vehicle to take further photographs during the second lunar day between 15 and 24 October 1967 and the fourth lunar day in December. In total, 20,018 pictures were transmitted.

In another experiment, on 13 September, controllers fired the main engine for 0.55 second to examine the effects of disturbing the lunar surface. NASA announced that no new craters were created, nor was there any significant dust cloud. The alpha-scattering instrument had earlier been released onto the surface and found the soil to be composed of more than half oxygen with amounts of silicon and aluminum. Contact was lost with the lander on 16 December 1967.

Key Dates

8 Sep 1967: Launch

11 Sep 1967: Lunar Landing (00:46:42 UT)

Status: Successful

Fast Facts

Surveyor 5 performed the first on-site soil analysis of a celestial body beyond Earth (right).

It was the first spacecraft in the Surveyor series to carry a scientific instrument.

Engineers used pencils instead of computers to make hasty calculations to save the troubled spacecraft before landing.